Conceptualizing Choreia on the François vase: Theseus and the Athenian Youths

Olsen, Sarah

doi:10.4000/books.editionsehess.3335

Cited by 2 publications

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“…Scholars have suggested it nonetheless contains a coherent programme of subjects and symbolisms, akin to Archaic poetic compositions, which celebrate the life cycle of the hero 58 . This life cycle included not only agonistic activities but also nuptial and ritual ones as well, particularly marriage: the François Crater shows the wedding of Peleus and Thetis as well as the dance of Theseus and the youths (Hedreen 2011; Olsen 2015). The Chigi Olpe contains one of the earliest extant scenes of the Judgment of Paris, which resulted in marriage, in the middle register, a tale known from the Kypria and featured on the Chest of Cypselus, the Throne of Apollo and an ivory comb from the sanctuary of Orthia (Hurwit 2002, 12).…”

Section: Placing the Prothesis Plaques In The Ivory Corpusmentioning

confidence: 99%

CELEBRATING DEATH AT THE SANCTUARY OF ORTHIA: APROTHESISSCENE, THE IVORY CORPUS AND RITUAL LANDSCAPES IN THE ARCHAIC PERIOD

Daniels

2023

Annu. Br. Sch. Athens

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The corpus of carved ivories from the sanctuary of Orthia at Sparta forms one of the most cosmopolitan assemblages from Archaic Laconia. One image within this corpus, however, has remained an anomaly: a mirror-image scene on two plaques showing three figures mourning a deceased male in the prothesis ritual. The puzzling nature of these plaques rests on the dearth of imagery elsewhere in Laconia from this period displaying the prothesis, unlike Attica. These images have been viewed as representing a mythical death or a commemoration of an actual death, tied to a period in Sparta's history when elite groups claimed power through ostentatious ritual, but their overall meaning within Orthia's sanctuary remains obscure. I argue, however, that these plaques are not anomalies within the ivory corpus, nor are they divorced from the broader ritual programme in Orthia's sanctuary – rather, the ivory corpus itself represents a unified composition that merged scenes showing ideal activities for Spartan citizens with heroic episodes from myth, geared towards the achievement of everlasting kléos. The semantics of these combined iconographies are clarified via comparison with cultic implements described in ancient literature alongside extant examples of multi-scene figural pottery from the seventh and sixth centuries. This paper thus highlights the mythological and ideological meanings of the prothesis plaques within the broader ivory corpus, and elucidates the role of complex figural iconographies in the elaboration of heroic ideals centred on Spartan citizens in this period.

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Section: Placing the Prothesis Plaques In The Ivory Corpusmentioning

confidence: 99%